Intel i9-12900KS Leak Suggests $780(ish) Retail Price!

As one of their key product announcements at CES 2022 (albeit, with the frustrating omission of their desktop Arc Alchemist graphics cards), Intel confirmed the upcoming release of a newly revised set of Alder Lake processors. Of these, the presumable flagship Core i9-12900KS undoubtedly garnered most of the attention. – With Intel claiming that this would be their most powerful desktop CPU yet, this was clearly quite a bold claim. I mean, it’s not as if the i9-12900K is any kind of slouch!

For those of you who are, however, perhaps planning to make this i9-12900KS your next upgrade, you might be in for a bit of a shock as following reports via Videocardz, reliable leak sources have cited (with apparent evidence) that the CPU will cost something in the region of $750 or perhaps even as high as $800!

Intel Core i9-12900KS

While the i9-12900KS is, of course, going to be more powerful than the i9-12900K in practically every notable performance regard (base/boost clock speeds, pre-binned cores, etc), if this leak is proven accurate it would seem to confirm that things are also going to increase in two other critical areas. Namely, its power consumption and price tag!

Starting with the power, it would appear that this will increase by around 25W. Not a huge amount, but enough to maybe suggest that the i9-12900KS will need (if not require) a pretty decent cooling solution. – The key factor, however, is undoubtedly in the price.

With retail leaks suggesting figures in the region of $780, this will see the i9-12900KS cost (around) 30% more than its i9-12900K successor.

Good, But at What Price?…

If the circa $780 price tag is proven accurate, then it will clearly represent one of (if not the) most expensive general consumer desktop processors that Intel has ever released. With it costing 30% more than the i9-12900K though, will it offer 30% more performance? Well, the simple answer to that question is of course not! – Frankly, though, the i9-12900KS may still represent an exceptionally solid release for Intel. Offering premium-level of performance for the enthusiast user, for those who this CPU is just outside of their budget, you still have the excellent i9-12900K.

I mean, between the two, as long as there is a fair performance difference to warrant the extra cost of the i9-12900KS, I think the market can easily stand to find homes with consumers for both of these processors. – At the same time though, the i9-12900KS may have something of the Nvidia 3090 Ti about it. Excellent (in theory), but not really created for humble people like you and me!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!